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<\/a>The Adventist high school in Maru\u0161evec, Croatia, has a long history of co-operating with ADRA, and participating in humanitarian work. Working together with the Youth Ministries department of the Adriatic Union, a small group of students and three staff chose to leave behind family, friends, and holiday cheer and exchange it, with some anxiety, for a refugee camp.<\/p>\nThey did meet other volunteers – among them Ana Josipovi\u0107, a worker with ADRA Greece. Together with Lipohar she took charge of the Croatian youth\u2019s stay and activities. The following days passed quickly, meeting the refugees, organising workshops and day care activities, and starting work on refurbishing their community room.<\/p>\n Youth painted the walls, arranged special space for day care, and, with the help of the children, decorated it. Both children and adults from the camp happily joined the efforts. Some of them surprised the teens with their talents. The rest of the space was turned into a small kitchen, a laundry room, and a living room with a TV set.<\/p>\n The youth also discovered how language can be an obstacle to playing even the most simple games. \u201cOur young people showed great desire, imagination, and spirit, and did their best to make the afternoons and the evenings as interesting as possible,\u201d one of the leaders commented.<\/p>\n In addition to providing for their material needs, the primary aim of ADRA in Greece is to try to improve the quality of life among the refugees. This is specifically important in endeavouring to improve the quality of their free time, their social life, and in reinvigorating their social skills. The volunteers work aimed to help in these areas, and never lacked in enthusiasm.<\/p>\n The refugees baked around 150 traditional Syrian loaves, made chickpea falafel, and then served it with their traditional and delicious spices, gravies, and fillings. Many of them worked for hours just to prepare this treat. \u201cOur hearts were filled with joy,\u201d the youth responded. \u201cThey reminded us of the story of the poor widow in the temple who gave away everything she had. In the same way our friends from the camp gave everything they had just to show their gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>At least the weather was good. Sunny weather and a pleasant 20\u00b0C warmed their worried hearts as they spent the first day with the Greek army who manage the camp. Apart from the guided tour, most of the day was spent in bureaucracy, with meetings, introductions, conversations, but little opportunity to actually meet the refugees.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Most of the refugees are from Syria and have now been living in tents for over a year \u2013 in addition to their trying and often dangerous journey to Greece which, for some, lasted for several months. Syrians are usually convivial, but the ones in this camp had, at least to a degree, lost that quality. Living in tents has reduced their status to one of mere survival. However, as the days passed by, the volunteers were happy to see more and more people coming to the community room and regaining some of their spirit.<\/p>\n<\/a>Once the decorating was complete, the youth started to organise some activities. This meant that the children and the young people without parents could spend their free time in a more creative fashion. Suddenly some old social games played in Croatia a long time ago suddenly became useful again, and fun.<\/p>\n<\/a>As youth and refugees spent more time together, the community room gradually got more crowded with men and their wives. New friendships were made and the youth heard a lot of sad stories about getaways, destroyed homes, lost family members, and separations from spouses and children. The stories were disturbing, even heart-wrenching. They were in stark contrast to the lives of even the poorest youth on the trip. It gave a new meaning to thankfulness and dependence on God.<\/p>\n<\/a>The youth were especially moved by our last night at the camp. They arrived at the community room to find a strange commotion in progress. They soon discovered that the whole camp was preparing a special dinner for them as a sign of gratitude for all they had done.<\/p>\n